Make a Wish
by wishing4speed
Summary: On the eve of her birthday, Ember Rayley parents are murdered and gets kidnapped by Madam Rouge on the orders of Pro. Chang and is made into an experiment. R&R! SpeedyxOC
1. Prologue

Prologue  
_Chang_

**RAYLEY** Inc. is one of the most successful companies in Jump City. Its owner, Ulrick Rayley, never raised his voice or shouted at his employees. He was considered a great man, and he never bragged about it. His wife, Molly, complained he was too nice to his old rival Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises in Gotham city. His nine-year old daughter, Ember, didn't mind, though. She admired her father, and she never disobeyed him.

Ulrick looked to young to be forty-six. He had a childish face, messy brown hair (his eyes were also brown), and a height of 5'11". His wife, on the other hand, had long black hair, a face that easily shows any type of emotion, and vibrant blue eyes. Ember had long brown hair like her father and blue eyes like her mother. The only difference in her was that she had two medium strands on the side of her hair, somewhat hiding her ears. For this, her parents call her "Sidely".

Now, Ulrick was happy and wealthy, but he did have his share of problems. His best friend, Roy Harper sr, died in a forest fire trying to help some victims escape nine years ago. Roy's son, named after him, was only two-years old when it happened. Ulrick offered for young Roy to live with them, but he got sent to another family. Ember goes to school with Roy, but being two grades apart, she doesn't even know he exists. Another of Ulrick's problems was that he would get calls from other company owners, insulting and blaming him about stealing their profit.

But, the worst has yet to come.  
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"Mr. Rayley, you have a call on line two."

Ulrick looked up from his notes and smiled at his assistant, who was poking her head inside his office.

"From who Barbara?" he asked, getting up from his desk.

She shrugged and said, "Some professor named Chang. He says it's extremely important that you talk to him."

Ulrick sat back down on his desk and sighed. It had to be another complaint. The citizens always had complaints for him, but he always tried to solve them. Hey, what can he say? It's his job.

"Ok," he told her, "I'll get right on it. Thank you Barbara."

His assistant nodded and went back to her post. Ulrick sighed again and picked up the phone. He pressed the blinking red button, now talking to his caller.

"This is Ulrick Rayley speaking," he declared, "How may I assist you today?"

There was silence. Ulrick raise an eyebrow and spoke into the phone again.

"Hello? May I help you?"

"Yes," a male's voice finally stated, "You may help me with something. Let me introduce myself, my name is Professor Chang, and I conduct very important experiments for a... Brotherly group that I work for."

"Well, then," Ulrick muttered, "How may I be of assistance?"

"I need help of financing an experiment of mine," Chang said, "I assure you, if the experiment is a success, I will give you fifty percent of the profit it makes."

"And what experiment are you going to conduct, Professor?"

"That's of no concern right now," spat Chang, "I just need you to give me a loan of fifty-three billion."

Ulrick jumped out of his seat in shock. "Fifty-three billion!" he stammered, "Professor, I can't give that kind of loan! Just what kind of experiment do you need that money for anyways?"

"Just give me the money," hissed Chang, "And we won't have any type of problem, deal?"

"No deal," Ulrick snapped, "Go look for another business that'll give you that type of money. I don't need a filthy stinking piece of crap to tell what I should do with my money"

"You will regret that," snarled Chang, "I'm not sure if this is correct, but your daughter's birthday is in two days, am I right?"

Ulrick froze and slowly looked at his calendar. Ember's birthday was marked July 16. Today was July 14.

"I shall be seeing your daughter on that day, Mr. Rayley. I'm sure she'll be happy to help out with my experiment, painfully."


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, I wouldn't let those b cancel the show.

Chapter 1:

"Ember Rayley! My class is not that boring!"

**SMACK!**

Ember felt a surge of pain flow over her head as she fell out of her desk, knocking down her chair along with her. Her classmates began to point and laugh her; only one of them got out of her desk and helped her get up. Ember thanked her, picked up her chair, and looked at Mrs. Picket, her teacher, straight into her eyes. Mrs. Picket was one of the grouchiest teachers in Jump Elementary, and to find her student asleep in class did not amuse her.

"Miss Rayley," Mrs. Picket spat, "this is the second time today that you nap in my class. If I catch you one more time dozing off, I will make you stay after school and clean out all the desks by yourself! Do I make myself clear?"

Ember grumbled and yanked her pony tail. "Yes, Mrs. Picket," Ember mumbled, "It won't happen again."

"Good, now take your seat so I can continue the lesson."

Ember did as she was told to do, but she paid no attention to the lesson. Why? Because she knew this already, that's why. She hated being in summer school, especially when she did so well last semester. But, according to her mother, she had to get all the education she could get. Ember knew her mom meant well, but to her, this was ridiculous. She didn't need this at all. Why can't she just stay home and relax for once in her life?

"Ember, would you like to answer the problem?'

Ember snapped back to reality. The whole class stared at her again with some people snickering. _I'll show them,_ she thought_, I'll show them that their dumbasses alright. _She sat up straight and squinted at the chalkboard.

"The answer is negative three, Mrs. Picket," she said.

"Correct. Perhaps you're not hopeless after all," said Mrs. Picket nastily.

As Mrs. Picket turned her back, Ember stook her tongue out at her in fury. Once again, she paid no attention to the lesson about negative and positive numbers. Sure, you might think it's too advanced for a class going into fifth grade, but Mrs. Picket always taught challenging things to minorities. For Ember, though, this was easier that adding one plus one.

Ember sighed with relief as the bell rang to go home. Everybody began to grab their backpacks and their belongings, but they were all silenced by Mrs. Picket.

"Don't forget to do those hundred math problems and to write those three pages about Virginia Hamilton. Remember, they're due tomorrow! No exceptions!"

The whole class, groaning, scrambled out of the classroom. Ember quickly made her way out the school and looked for Carlos, her chauffer. She smacked her forehead.

"Carlos," she muttered, "where the hell are you?

Don't get her wrong, she liked Carlos. She liked the fact that he was born in Mexico and he has a strange accent when he talks in English. She loved the stories that he told her about his family and his humorous wise sayings. But, he always had the nerve to come late.

"Might as well wait," she told herself as she sat on the ground.

She began to fumble her fingers in boredom, wishing she had at least one friend to talk to. To tell the truth, she had no friends in school. People always thought of her as a mean, wealthy person that didn't care anything except money. This was a lie, of course. She didn't care about money or anything valuable. All she cared about was at least making a friend.

Lost in her thoughts, Ember did not notice that a boy had sat down next to her. He took a deep breath and began searching for something in his backpack. Ember shook herself back into the real world and stared at him. There was actually somebody sitting next to her; nobody has done this before in her life. He paid no attention to her presence and continued looking in his backpack. He glanced at her briefly after a few seconds, making her immediately look at the ground.

"Hey, do you happen to have paper I can use?"

It took Ember a few seconds to realize that he was talking to her. "Um, sure," she squeaked.

She opened her backpack and pulled out line paper. Shaking, she placed the paper in his stretched out hand. He smiled at her broadly.

"Thanks," he said, "I don't think I've seen you around here. What grade are you in?"

"Well, I'm going to fifth," she answered.

"Really? I'm going to seventh," he told her, "You don't look like you're in fourth."

"Um, is that a compliment?" she asked.

For some reason, it made him laugh. "Roy Harper," he stated and stretched his hand to shake hers.

She nervously shook his hand and muttered, "Ember Rayley."

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Ulrick didn't even bother to grab his suitcase when he swiftly left his office. He somehow knew that Chang wasn't kidding about what he had told him a little while ago. Ulrick had to tell Molly about this, call the police, and send Ember to Roy's caretakers. He only had today and tomorrow to do this, and he had to act fast, no matter what the cost.

He pressed the elevator button rapidly and waited impatiently for it to arrive. When it did, his assistant bumped into him.

"Mr. Rayley!" she cried, "You have another call on line two."

"Not now Barbara, I have to leave early today."

"It's from Chang," she added, "Says it's urgent."

"Ulrick froze at name of Chang, but he did not show his fear. Trying to act calm, he nearly jogged back to his office. He closed the door with lock and looked at the phone. He picked up the phone and pressed the blinking red button.

"H-h-hello?" he stuttered.

"Mr. Rayley," Chang answered, "I believe you were thought about what my little plan. I have one and final offer for you. If you fulfill it, I will spare young Ember, do I make myself clear?"

Ulrick's voice began shaking. How on earth did Chang know her name? "Look, I don't want any problems."

"Of course you don't," Chang spat, "it would not be pretty if you did. Now, enough of that, I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening," Ulrick said, trying to sound brave, but really only sounded as if he had a large lemon in his throat.

"You will give me the money in twenty minutes at the docks," whispered Chang, "You will not be followed by anyone. I see any police and I will not only experiment with your daughter, I will also kill her."

Ulrick thought his heart was about to burst for pounding so much in his chest. How could he possibly get all that money in twenty minutes without anybody noticing? It was utterly impossible. The banker would probably want to know why he needed all that money for. People will wonder what will happen to Rayley Inc. if it had to go into a smaller business and hire fewer agents. Profits will go down and business will be less successful.

"I can't possibly give all that money in such little time! My business will drop and-,"

"That is not my problem," spat Chang, "If you are declining, then I shall-,"

Ulrick finally found himself shouting. "THEN YOU SHALL DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!" he roared, "UNDERSTAND THAT I CAN'T GIVE YOU THE MONEY IN SUCH MINIMAL TIME AND THAT MY BUSINESS WILL SUFFER!" Ulrick took deep breaths, not sure if he was going to regret this or not.

There was silence. It wasn't about ten seconds before Chang muttered, "You were warned, Ulrick. Say your goodbyes to Ember."

There was a click and more silence. Ulrick threw the phone back into the receiver, pulling out few amounts of his hair. He looked at his watch. It was 3:14 PM, meaning that Ember had finally got out of school and that Carlos was already taking her back home. He grabbed his briefcase and left his office quickly. He stopped at his assistant's desk, making her jump slightly.

"Is there anything I can help you with-?"

"Call the police," he said, "and make an appointment with Mr. Kent at five."

"May I ask why-?"

"No," he snapped and took the elevator.

His assistant watched him step inside it, waited for a few moments, got out of her desk, and pressed the elevator button, waiting for another to arrive. Once it did, she made sure that nobody else got in it, and stepped inside. She smirked to herself as it took her down every floor.

"Oh," she snarled, "I'll make you the appointment alright."

Her face began to form into another, still smirking. Her body followed, turning from the elegant blue suit into a bright red top and skirt. She now had black hair and dark red lips.

"Madame Rouge vill make sur if itz," she said.


	3. Chapter 2

Thank you for all the replies! Really, this is the third time I rewrite the story, and I'm really happy with the one I'm doing now. I was planning to have Madam Rouge talk all foreign, but I couldn't do it, so……………

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. If I did, the show would have gotten already to season eight.

Chapter 2:

"I saw you talking with a boy right now. Tell me, did he start talking to you or did you start talking to him?" Carlos asked, smiling behind the driver's seat.

Ember rolled her eyes, staring out the car window. Carlos had already picked her up from school and was taking her home, though Ember was kind of hoping he would come later for her. Roy was so much fun to talk with; he had actually made her laugh when nobody else in school ever could. Yes, she was two years younger than him, but he made it look like he was really interested in her. That, to her surprise, amused her. Somebody was _actually_ interested in her.

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"So Ember," Roy had said after introducing himself, "why are you here by yourself? It's not common here to be a loner."

Ember had frowned a bit, but attempted to smile. "I'm not a loner," she told him, "I'm waiting for my driver, Carlos. He usually comes later than he's supposed to."

He raised an eyebrow. "You have a driver? So, are you rich or something, because the only people that have personal drivers are like, stinking rich?"

"Well, I guess you could say I'm wealthy," she replied, "My father is the owner of Rayley Inc." For some reason, this made her give out a silent giggle.

"So that's why you look familiar!" Roy sprang up to his feet and stared down at her. "You came out with Ulrick Rayley and his wife in the newspaper about two years ago! Wow! Those are your parents? Man, you're not wealthy! You're freaking rich!"

"Oh really?" she smirked, "And what are you? An upper class person? I bet your parents have nice jobs to be able to buy you those clothes."

He gave a broad smile and struck a pose. "You're right; I am considered the upper class." He made a somewhat sexy voice when he said this and made Ember laugh. "But……..my parents, well……..my father especially……….went, um, out of town for a few months and, well…………sent me to live with a caretaker for a while."

Roy looked down at floor for a few seconds before Ember broke the silence. "My father does that, too," she said, "But he has never been gone more than a month." Roy laughed rather nervously when she said this. "Well, my father tends to be gone for a long time, longer than usual," he muttered, running his hand roughly through his orange hair.

Ember stared at him oddly, raising an eyebrow. He seemed upset, very upset. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when Roy uttered, "Well, enough of that! Did you enjoy the Fourth of July Festival?"

Ember clapped her hands in delight and cried with glee. "Of course I enjoyed it! It was the best thing to happen so far this month. I really can't wait for this Friday!" She got to her feet and twirled around in circles without thinking, making Roy laugh. It took her about two seconds to realize what she was doing. Shocked, she tripped over her own feet, falling backwards. Roy swiftly caught her by the hand, giving her a weird look.

"What's so important about Friday?" he asked, helping her regain her balance. She blushed a bit as she bit her lip. "Friday's my tenth birthday," she explained, "Perfect way to celebrate the weekend."

"Well," he said, "That's good! My twelfth birthday's coming up also. I'll make sure to get you a present." Ember's face fell slightly. "Oh no! You don't have to give me a present!"

"I insist!" he exclaimed, "I'm not going to be able to come to school on Friday, I have a doctor's appointment on that day. How about we meet at the video store at five on that day? I can take you to the movie theatre also if you like."

Ember was about to argue, but smiled instead. _Don't blow it_, she thought. "You don't have to take me to the theatre," she said, "I'll only see you at the video store, _for a little while_." Roy clapped his hands in delight. "Perfect! I'll see you on Friday then!"

He got his backpack and smiled. "Well, I must be off now," he said. Ember looked around, trying to see if a car was coming to pick him up. "I don't see a car waiting for you," she pointed out." He chuckled. "I walk home," he explained.

"I can give you a ride if you want," she offered, "Carlos should arrive right about now." Roy shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine." He walked away for a bit, stopped and looked back at her. "See you on Friday Ember!" he shouted before taking off again.

She waved good-bye at him, smiling broadly.

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"Well?" asked Carlos.

Ember smiled slightly at him before answering. "He talked to me first," she replied, "He just wanted to have some paper, and, well, we began to chat. And I'm not telling you anything else. I don't want any rumors to be spread out in my father's household."

Carlos eyed her for a bit before looking back at the road. "Ah, now why would that happen?"

Ember mocked him a bit, but smiled at the same time. She knew he was only joking around as he always did. Her mother didn't like Carlos a lot, since he would always joke around, but Ulrick trusted him. Ulrick always trusted everybody anyways.

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Jump City Police Department was busy as usual; solving robberies, going through murder cases, and trying to find runaway prisoners. The secretary was answering phone calls as usual. It wasn't long before she saw a man walk in swiftly that caught her attention.

"Mr. Kent?" she stuttered as he approached her desk, "I thought you were on vacation!" Kent gave a slight smile before answering her, "Change of plans."

He left to his office before the secretary could ask why. Making sure to lock the door, he sat down on the plushy red rolling chair and gave a sigh of relief, watching time tick by. Kent kept shook his wrist at one point to check the time; 5:04. What was taking Ulrick so long? If he backed down already, then there was no point for him to wait already.

As though answering his question, his black cord phone rang rather loud. Delighted, he answered it with a swift motion. "Yes?" he answered, "……….Alright, send him in."

Kent grabbed some files and pretended to be working as Ulrick Rayley entered his office. "What can I do for Mr. Rayley?" said Kent, without even looking up at him.

Ulrick sat down on the plastic chair and sighed. "I've been receiving these…….calls," Ulrick explained, "From a Professor Chang."

As though he had seen this coming, Kent sprang up from his desk and stared at Ulrick menacingly. "Professor Chang?" he spat, "We've been trying to get him for years! Tell me, did he threatened you or demanded for money?" "Why, Yes!" exclaimed Ulrick, "How did you know?"

Kent sat back down and fumbled with his fingers. "Business owners have received the same calls, and they all have to do with money for experimenting." "And what happened?" Ulrick questioned. Kent tried not to smirk at him; instead he gave Ulrick a negative frown. "They ended up dead." Ulrick's eyes widened with shock. "Please," he pleaded, "I need your help. Chang told me that he was going to take away my daughter, on her birthday! I don't even want to think of all the things he can do to her"

Kent merely smiled at him. "Don't worry Mr. Rayley, with all this new technology, we'll be able to stop Chang from causing any harm to your daughter. I will station some of my men at your house today around nine o'clock." Ulrick smiled with relief. Kent smiled broadly and stretched out his hand. "You're in good hands Mr. Rayley," Kent assured him.

Ulrick stretched out his hand as well and shook Kent's with trust, as though convinced that nothing would happen.

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Ok, so all my chapters have been small so far. I like writing them like that. It creates suspense, doesn't it?


	4. Chapter 3

strangles myself I feel bad, way bad. I had finished this part for so long, yet I haven't posted, at all. Moving to Harker Heights took longer than I expected, and I haven't even posted Chapter 4; I'm disgusted with myself. I never knew high school would be so hard, especially with 4 PRE AP classes, so I had to drop two of the classes. And to top it all off, I'm somewhat anemic, or so that nurse told me when I went to go get my physical for tennis. I really can't believe this. I am very, extremely, and deeply sorry for all my great readers.

Chapter 3:

Night had already fallen on Jump City, though that didn't stop people from going on with their daily lives. Usually, the Rayley's mansion would be completely dark, with the exception of the kitchen, which was always on, but this time the light of Ember's room was on, which was strange. It was one o'clock in the morning and they were going to serve pizza at lunch during school. But surprisingly, she wasn't going to school today. In fact, she wasn't going to summer school anymore; her father had told her this earlier.

Why he decided for her not to go to school she didn't know. All she knew was that she had gotten furious, and she wasn't the only one. Her mother, Molly, was the one who wanted Ember to attend summer school in the first place.

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"You're just dilly-dallying, right?" Molly had choked as she ate her salad during dinner.

To Ember's and Molly's surprise, Ulrick shook his head.

"I'm not dilly-dallying at all. I think it's time we stop pressuring Ember from all this advanced education." He turned to Ember and smiled. "You already know things that eight graders are barely learning. And besides, you always kept telling us that you hate Mrs. Picket."

"But Ulrick, be reasonable!" Molly said. "She has to get all the education she needs in order to earn a spot in Princeton or Harvard! Why, if she doesn't make it there by the time she's eighteen, goodness, who knows what might happen?"

"Now Molly, I really think you're over reacting. See here, she doesn't need all this schooling-"

_"Ahem"_

"But Ulrick, she could become a famous doctor and save a life or-"

_"Ahem"_

"Oh Molly, really, she needs to get a rest from school-"

_"AHEM!"_

Both Molly and Ulrick turned around to see Ember, who had been the one pretending to cough all this time.

"I don't think I want to leave summer school just yet dad," she said rather dryly.

Ulrick's smile turned into a frown, but Molly seemed to be stopping herself from jumping and give a loud whoop.

"See here Ulrick?" boasted Molly, smiling and crossing her arms. "She still wants to go to school. I don't think you'll want to change that, will-"

But he had put his hand up signaling for her to be quiet. Molly didn't like it when he did that, and neither did he, but this meant he was being serious. He looked at Ember very sternly before breaking the small silence.

"What's your reason for wanting to go to summer school?" he asked as though it was a death question.

Ember shrugged and tried to look convincing. "Um…because I like it there?" she muttered, though she was sure he wouldn't believe that answer, and she was right.

Ulrick smiled at her and raised an eyebrow. "Do not try to fool your own father," he said. "I know you too well. Now, what's the real reason why you want to keep going to summer school?"

Truth is, she wanted to see Roy again, and not going to school would mean that she would have cancel the date he had made with her on her birthday without telling him. Well, she guessed it wouldn't technically be canceling, more like _standing him up_, if that was what you would call it, but that wasn't the point. She just really wanted to see Roy, that's all, but that would be another excuse for her dad to tell her not to go to school.

She shifted in her seat slightly, looking down at her meatloaf.

"There isn't really a reason," she mumbled. "I guess I'll stop going to school then."

Molly looked like she was about to throw something. Ulrick however, seemed pleased and clapped his hands.

"Well then, that settles it!" he exclaimed. "You're not going to summer school anymore. I'll call the Attendance office in a little bit, and you'll be relaxing for the rest of this summer."

He helped himself to the rice on his bread before speaking again. "I have more news," he said thickly, though this was because his mouth was full of meatloaf.

"What is it now?" spat Molly.

"You and Ember have been appointed bodyguards and they will go everywhere with you."

_"WHAT!"_

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Ember sighed as lowered the covers of her large bed from her face. Knowing she had to be followed by a gruesome man was shocking indeed, though she did not know what she was being protected of. Her father had told her not worry; her bodyguard was only there in case of an emergency. Strangely though, he seemed a bit nervous as he quickly introduced Ember to the man that would be following her every move on the same night. Ulrick seemed to like him for his size, but Ember absolutely was frightened.

Pale, oily skinned, and about as tall as a basketball player, Greg was certainly not the type of person you should talk back too. He had the personality of a rotten cabbage and seemed to have the nerve to knock out anybody near him with his massive hands. When Ember said hello feebly to him, he merely stared at her, as though she was a lingering piece of fresh meat. His voice sounded more like a hiss and he had what seemed to be a British accent, but Ember wasn't sure.

Ember shivered as she heard him grunt in his sleep outside her door. It was horrible. She couldn't go anywhere since he was guarding the door.

Stretching, she yawned and looked at her clock. It was already two in the morning.

"G'night Jump City," she whispered, turning off her small lamp and finally drifting on to sleep and started to dream.

_"Hey! That's not funny!"_

_A girl was sitting down on a circular couch, laughing hysterically while a boy sitting next to her crossed his arms and frowned. The girl stopped laughing after a while and stared deeply at the boy._

_"How can it not be funny?" she smirked. "You just got told off by a kid."_

_"I did not get told off by a munchkin!" the boy said. "He just merely-"_

_"Told you off?"_

_The girl giggled, reached out to him, and ruffled his hair, saying "little tyke."_

_The boy just shook her hand off without effort, though he did smile mischievously at her. The girl raised an eyebrow._

_"What are you smiling at?"_

_He edged closer to her, making her slightly uncomfortable. She backed away from him a little, but he kept creeping close to her._

_"Seriously, what are you smiling at?" she asked shakily._

_He was way too close now; his knees were bumping into hers._

_"I just want to know if you'll still laugh after I do this."_

_In a swift motion, he grabbed her head and inched it closer to his. _

"Get up you lazy-ass."

Someone deliberately had tried to poke Ember in the shoulder, but had surely missed, and poked her closed eye instead. Feeling pain in her right eye, she sat up straight, only to find out that Greg was the one that had poked her. She gave him a dark look, only to get it back.

"What was that for? And who gave you permission to come into my room?"

"I said get up, you lazy-ass," he repeated, ignoring her questions.

Cursing under her breath, she got out of bed, stretching her arms and scratched her head. She looked at her clock and dropped her jaw. It was barely seven in the morning. She had only been sleeping for only five hours.

"You woke me up at seven in the morning!" she bellowed. "What gives!"

He stared at her like if she was nothing. "I have some early business today, and your father told me that if I was going somewhere, you had to come as well, so get dressed."

"Why should I listen-?"

"I SAID GET DRESSED!"

She didn't need telling twice, though she made a mental note to tell her father that she had been yelled at. Running as fast as she could, she opened her closet door, but stopped for a fraction of a second, and looked back. Greg was still there.

"Do you mind?" she snapped. "Or are you going to watch me change as well?"

He merely grunted, walked out the room, and slammed the door, making her jump. Ember made a rude hand signal at the door before going back to her closet.

"This is going to be a long morning," she murmured.

And indeed it was. In his beat up pick-up truck, Greg had taken her to moldy dark shop that sold guns, which made Ember shrink back into the corners while Greg examined a particular large sniper. After that, they went to this small café that only had two tables. Greg had ordered himself scrambled eggs, but didn't get Ember anything at all.

"You don't get anything yet," he told her, his mouth full of eggs.

Ember was already getting sick of Greg. He treated her as if she was a stray dog that was following in order to obtain food. People seemed to notice this as well. A woman had asked her if she was lost, but Greg had pulled her away before the woman can get an answer. It wasn't until two hours that Ember began to get hopeful.

She had escaped Greg's clutches at a Wal-Mart and prowled around the Pet aisle. Ember actually had the nerve to fish out a goldfish and throw it at her bodyguard's face at this point.

"He's evil," she snarled, "He's a good-for-nothing-"

"Who's evil?"

She felt a hand place on her shoulder. Getting a feeling that Greg had found her, she turned around and faced Roy.

"Roy? What are you doing here? I thought you said you had a doctor's appointment?" she asked.

He seemed to be pleased. "I have a dog back home, so I usually come here to buy dog food, and my appointment won't be until about thirty minutes. But what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school? "

Ember turned red. She didn't want to tell him that she couldn't go to school because her father simply said no, but he had been honest with her. She explained everything about her not attending school anymore. When she finished, he just shook his head.

"So you're just not going anymore? And your dad didn't tell you why?"

"No."

"Well, that's odd. There has to be a reason why he doesn't want you to go."

"Well," Ember admitted. "He did say that I had too much schooling and I needed to get a rest from it."

He still didn't look convinced. "So, who are you here with anyways?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"I'm here with my bodyguard," she muttered.

Roy laughed uncontrollably when she said this. Ember turned to an even darker shade of red.

"Oh," she cried, "please don't laugh! It's bad enough to have barely found out that I was actually going to have a bodyguard just yesterday! You don't know what its like, do you? It's a living nightmare, honestly. He treats me like a shabby dog and doesn't even let me go to the bathroom. He's grouchy, bad-tempered, and-STOP LAUGHING!"

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping a tear from his eye, "but it is amusing. I thought you, out of all people…"

"Yes, it's amusing, isn't it?"

Holding some hair-products, Greg was standing right behind Roy, whose smile fell as he turned around. Roy quickly backed up and stood next to Ember, as though if she was refuge. Ember, though, frowned at Greg.

"Get out of my sight kid," he spat at Roy. He turned to Ember, who was still frowning. "And you hurry up. I need to pay for all this."

"You're not the boss of me," she snapped. "And you have no right to tell Roy what he should do. You are _my_ bodyguard, and yet you have failed to show me respect. My father will here about this. I'm going to make sure you get sacked."

"You will regret that," Greg said. "You have no idea why your father hired me, don't you? I work for the police kid (he took out a shiny badge from his jacket), so you better respect me. My boss is far worse that me, believe it. She- I mean, he shows no patience with failure." He punched himself in the arm as though he was being challenged by himself. Both Ember and Roy blinked, but he continued to talk. "To make a long story short, I'm stuck with you until tomorrow- I mean until your father says so. So, deal with it."

Ember raised an eyebrow as he finished talking. What did Greg mean that he was only going to be with here until tomorrow? That didn't make sense. Her father specifically told her in front of Greg that he would stay with her until further notice, certainly not tomorrow. And why did he punch himself when he accidentally mentioned that his boss was a woman, and then quickly said that his boss was a man? It was strange to her at the moment, but decided not to worry about until later.

"Uh, yeah," squeaked Roy taking some steps backward, "I'd better go now. Nice seeing you Ember"

He was about to leave the aisle, much to Greg's delight, but to Ember's despair. She knew what she was about to do was stupid, but she couldn't stand another solitary day, especially with Greg.

"Wait!"

Roy stopped and looked back.

"Can I have your phone- phone- phone number?"

There, she said what she wanted to say, realizing that she was turning from red to scarlet. Greg rolled his eyes with disgust. Roy, however, smiled and took out a fancy wallet from his pocket. He pulled out a small piece and of paper and a miniature pen from his wallet and began to scribble numbers on it.

"Call me whenever you like," he said as he handed her the paper. "We're still going to see each other at the video store tomorrow, right?"

Ember nodded and said, "Yeah."

"Ok, how about around five?" Roy suggested. "I want you to meet my caretaker."

Ember nodded again. "That's sounds reasonable," she said.

He grinned and took of quickly without saying anything. Ember smiled and looked at the tiny piece of paper that was crumpled in her hand.

_467-9051_

_Call me if you ever need anything. I don't care if it's midnight or two o'clock in the morning. I'll be there for you. _

_Roy_

Ok, for the most part, I think it lacked detail, or I'm just losing my touch. I was hoping to make this …interesting but I messed up. Hopefully, I'll have chapter 4 up soon, with better ideas.


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